Malcolm In The Middle star Frankie Muniz has revealed that he wouldn’t let his son follow in his footsteps and become a child actor despite having a positive experience in the industry.
Speaking to PEDESTRIAN.TV, following his surprise casting in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Australia, Munis revealed his true thoughts on child actors and shared that it was a topic he had previously discussed with his wife, Paige Price.
“I will never let my kid go into the business,” the Agent Cody Banks star began.
“And not that I had a negative experience because, to be honest my experience was 100 per cent positive but I know so many people, friends that were close to me, that had such insanely negative experiences.”
Muniz continued to say that “it’s an ugly world in general” and that one of the main reasons he wouldn’t let his three-year-old son Mauz join the industry was due to social media.
“Especially these days with social media,” Muniz added.
“You’re always being watched. I was that last, literally, last generation of shows where the height of my career came before social media.
“So people looked at people on TV or movies or even musicians or whatever differently because they weren’t as almost attainable.”
Alongside why Muniz would not allow his son to pursue a career in child acting, he also explored the difficulties of becoming a successful actor in Hollywood.
“There’s a ton of rejection,” Muniz continued.
“I think people think that [acting] an easy thing to break into, but you now, I like to be honest about it.
“There’s a million people in Hollywood who try… they could be the best actors on the planet they don’t even get the opportunity.
“It’s really a lot of luck that plays into it.”
The topic surrounding child actors has reached boiling point after the release of the chilling documentary Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV — which investigated the plethora of disturbing allegations made against big bosses at Nickelodeon during its golden age.
In the early 2000s, Muniz was a child star, nabbing main roles in Malcolm In The Middle, the Agent Cody Banks franchise and Big Fat Liar. Despite rising to fame during Nickelodeon’s golden age, he was not a part of the Quiet On Set docuseries.
After reaching stardom as a child actor, Muniz has switched gears and is now a NASCAR driver.
But it looks like he’s completed a full uey and has returned to the limelight via the unhinged competition reality TV show I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Australia.
It’s going to feel a bit weird (but nostalgic AF) seeing this icon back on our screens.
Image source: Getty Images / Bob Riha, Jr. and Instagram / @frankiemuniz4
